Distant Pickles

WIP Wednesday, Did You Miss Me?

2012-02-08T04:00:00.002-05:00

Bree mentioned my computer was on the fritz last week. My kids decided it was thirsty and gave it a glass of milk. I opened it up and cleaned it out and thought I got it all, but a pop and hiss later and it was a goner. I have the WORST luck ever with computers. Fortunately it happened right before we were expecting our tax return so I was able to get a new one fairly quickly. I went with a desktop this time, an all-in-one so it wouldn't take up too much room and so I could hang it on the wall and the kids couldn't hurt it. I ordered it on Monday of last week, and it got here Wednesday. I was so excited, I ripped it open and plugged it in, and nothing. It wouldn't turn on. Did I mention that I have the worst computer luck? So I had to send it back and wait for a new one, which arrived yesterday. I was so nervous and worried that it wouldn't work either, but surely my luck can't be THAT bad, right? So, with baited breath, I plugged it in and hit the power button and hooray! We were back in business. So far I LOVE this new computer, it's a touchscreen which is pretty awesome. And it's compact and doesn't take up too much room, especially since it's hanging on the wall. Space is very important in this tiny house of mine. Keep your fingers crossed I can make this one last longer than a year!! I have to keep giggling at myself too, I'm so used to a laptop keyboard that when I need to move the mouse I automatically move my thumbs down, looking for the touchpad. This will take some getting used to I think.

So, what have I been up to?

Remember in the beginning of the year I said I was going to relax and take things slow, enjoy the process more. So that's exactly what I've been doing. I quit working in assembly line style. I found I get bored when I do that and start counting how many more pieces I have left to do. That's not enjoying the process!!

I started on a new quilt using the Off the Rail pattern by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. It requires lots of strip piecing (this is where I realized that assembly line piecing was boring).

And some fussy cut squares. How did I not notice that quilt hanging on the line in this print before now?

I have roughly about 20 blocks out of 30 done on this one.

I've pulled more fabrics for the Farmer's Wife quilt. We took a break over the winter and are starting up this week. I need to make 12 blocks to catch up.

I worked on this a bit the other day, pulled the fabrics in the morning and cut some of them that night. Once I quit enjoying it, I stopped. I have to say this new mantra of mine is working quite well for me, it's nice to not hate a project.

I also finished piecing all of my arcs for the Double Wedding Ring and ordered the solids for it, they'll be here tomorrow! This one will take a LOT of cutting, by hand, using scissors, before I can move on it some more.

Here are all 254 arcs

I've also been doing some brainstorming and sketching for a couple of swaps. I've joined both Round 2 of For the Love of Solids and the Mouthy Stitches pouch swap. My pouch partner has tastes very similar to mine so I think she'll be easy to please. My solids partner is going to be a bit harder I think. Her taste in color palette is quite different than mine and her love of geometric designs has me thrown for a loop. I think I have a good idea of what she will like though. I'm waiting on some fabric to arrive before I can get started, I'll share more on these later!

I'm linking up to Lee this week, it sure has been awhile since I have!

WIP Wednesday

2012-02-01T09:58:00.001-05:00

Lots of new projects this week... I finished up Bent Rainbows last week and haven't touched a stinkin' thing since! But since Lee's WIP Wednesday posts really help keep me on track, I figured it was high time I get back to it.

So this week - new projects! I have my first-ever-super-secret project in the works, and I'm beyond excited. The fabric is below... who can name it? Hint... you can probably search the posts I've made and found the manufacturer listed in 8 out of 10 posts.

I've also joined up on a Pay-It-Forward post from facebook, so I'll be doing a bunch of little projects coming up. I finished a tote bag and an ipad cover this weekend - as soon as they reach their recipients, I'll post pictures. :)

So, let's see.

In progress, 1. We have the super secret quilt project with the awesome fabric above.

9 pay-it-forwards... one down. 8 to go!

Kid's quilt... remember when I talked about him wanting to sew? Yep, haven't cut that yet. I'm working on cutting it down to 3.5" squares so we can start sewing soon!
Oh! And a Swoon Quilt! I'd made some of these blocks for the back of my KSQA quilt, and really quite like the look. They're massive, so I've scaled them down to 18" blocks. I've mostly finished pulling fabrics - got a little more to go - and then I'll be starting on the construction!

My progress feels pretty lame right now, gotta be honest. I just had so many finishes in December, and spent most of January making clothes for our camping trip... It's like I'm starting fresh! But hey, fresh is good.

One question for y'all...

if you had 1.5 yards of 60" chalk cloth, what would you make?

Finished It Friday!

2012-01-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

Whoo, you guys are probably getting sick of checking the page and realizing there's nothing new, eh?

Julie's computer is on the fritz, and I was in the wild outdoors for a whole week, pretending I was a pioneer. Yep. For real. See? Here's the kid in his mountain man attire, ha!

In quilting news, I did finish my Bent Rainbows Quilt. It took me a while to like it. I think it's a combo of the fact that there's so much white in the front and the fact that I used all solids that makes it... not a fave. But Kid loves it and so does the husband, so I guess it's a keeper!

I actually REALLY like the back. I love how the quilting shows up, and it's way more appealing to me than the front!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday!

Perfectly Content

2012-01-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

A hot drink and sweet treat

A new sewing project

And a few Friends

What's making you happy this Saturday night?

Wintery WIP Wednesday!

2012-01-10T19:39:00.001-05:00

Looking for the Rainbow Layer Cake Swap? Click here!

Except it's so not wintery 'round these parts.

I've been out of the blogging game for a bit, but I'm getting back. Lee's WIP Wednesday posts are always a good motivator!

Right now, I only have one technical WIP to show off. I have a gigantic list of USOs (un-started objects, of course), but I've been working on a few small projects that seem to wrap up quickly.

My big WIP?

My rainbow quilt!
I went from a big stack of yummy charm squares, cut from yardage:

To a layered pinwheel quilt top:

My inspiration for this quilt was SewCraftyJess's doll quilt found here. Do you see those lovely curves? I do believe she used drunkard's path blocks for hers, but I'm being a bit lazier and doing a modified cathedral curve. What does that mean? It means all those "half square triangles" are not half square triangles. They're full charm squares of the color, with a white charm square, folded and pressed diagonally on top of them. What?! I found this idea here... check it out!

I'm currently piecing the back, but the plan is to baste it, and then curve all of those folded white edges back and stitch them down, just like a cathedral window curve is peeled back. It should create a nice curve and give a bit of motion to the pinwheels, right? Plus, by machine stitching the curves, they'll act as my quilting. I plan to bind in black.

I'm also doing up some mini quilts for my sewing room. We've been doing a lot of stuff around the house lately, and I spent six hours Sunday going through fabric in my sewing room. I threw out three bags full of... stuff. Paper. Patterns and templates that I'd traced on card stock and didn't need. Bits of binding that were too short to be useful. Teensy scraps. Jars. Old notebooks. Y'all would have cried. But it's so clean and fresh in here and I feel like I can create again! Oh, and I ordered 19 yards of fabric yesterday to make up for all that's missing.

My first mini is finished, and it's with some yummy Heather Ross fishies! Love love love these fishies, and Julie was kind enough to send me some! I have plans for a few more. Just wait.

Don't forget about the Rainbow Layer Cake Swap - still have open slots!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday!

Fancy Some Cake?

2012-01-10T10:49:00.003-05:00

Swap is now full!

Because I can't get enough of swaps and Bree is totally in love with rainbows (ok, I may be a bit in love with rainbows too)

We're announcing the Rainbow Layer Cake Swap!

Rainbow charm swaps are always a big hit in the blogiverse. I've been a member of one and really enjoyed the swap and the awesome charms I received. But I found myself wanting and needing some pieces larger than the 5" square. Bree would just love to get her hands on some rainbow-y goodness. Have I mentioned yet that she loves rainbows?

Anyway, here's the plan:

-20 participants, each will be assigned two colors

-Each participant buys two 1.5 yard cuts of fabric (for a total of 3 yards)

-Each 1.5 yard cut gets cut into 10" squares for a total of 20 squares per fabric cut or 40 squares per person

-Quilt shop quality fabrics only, no fabrics from JoAnn, Walmart, etc.
-No solids or batiks, we're looking for tone-on-tone fabrics in the color you're assigned. We'll go into more detail in the welcome email.

-Mail your squares to me along with a self addressed postage paid flat rate envelope

-Deadline to mail your squares to me will be March 1st.

-Upload an image of your fabric selections to the Distant Pickles Flickr group so there aren't any duplicates.

-International people are welcome to join, I will have to bill you for postage through paypal and your mailing deadline will be Feb. 15th. You may have your fabric shipped directly to me and I will cut it for you if you'd like.

So how do you sign up?

Easy, just email us at

distantpickles@yahoo.com

If you have a particular color you'd like to be assigned, let us know in your sign up email and we will try to accomodate you.

Bree and I are participating too so the first 18 emails we receive are in and will receive an email from us with more specific instructions and the mailing address for where they will need to send their squares.

If we get enough interest we will gladly set up more than one group.

So, are you in?

Word of the Year

2012-01-09T00:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, I don't normally do things like this. I don't make big goals, I don't do resolutions, and I've never done a word for the year. But I've been feeling lately like I need something to work towards, something to keep me grounded.

My word comes from a woman who knew me a total of about 2 minutes before instructing me to do it.

Breathe.

That's right, breathe.

I tend to get myself worked up and over little things. It happens so fast and so easy.

Last night for example. Bug got into the tub of sugar. Not only did she get into the tub of sugar, but she poured it all over Moose's highchair tray while he was in it. When I found them they were both covered head to toe in sugar, eating it, pouring it, throwing it all over the kitchen.

My response? To get onto Bug and tell her she was a bad girl. Dad's response? To laugh and whip out the camera and capture the moment.

I should be enjoying these moments, looking at them as funny and something to laugh about later.

When it comes to crafting there's no exception. I am a bit of perfectionist. That seam doesn't line up perfectly? Rip it and do it again! I accidentally nip a piece of fabric? I tense up, throw down the scissors and stomp around the room for a few minutes. I know this all makes me sound like a bear, I'm not, really. I just let myself get worked up!

I also over commit and then procrastinate and stress myself out trying to finish things up before a deadline. I like to say I work best under pressure, but in reality it just causes a lot of stress and heartache, fear that I'll let someone down.

The woman who told me to breathe? The shop owner of my local yarn store. I walked in with my very first knitting project on needles and proceeded to ask her a million questions.

"Am I doing this right?"

"How do I fix this stitch?"

"Why is my knitting so tight?"
"Am I using the right needles?"

"Is this yarn ok?"

"Just Breathe" she said.

So, my word for the year is Breathe. I'm going to remind myself of this whenever something minor happens, something that's not worth raising my blood pressure over.

I'd like to say I'm going to commit to less but I've already committed to round 2 of the For the Love of Solids Swap, the I-Spy Charm Swap, Pay it Forward 2012 and one quilt along. And it's only January 9th. Oh, and Bree and I are cooking up a little swap of our own. So instead of committing to less I'm just going to try to not procrastinate.

I'm also going to slow things down a bit. WIP Wednesday will still continue, but instead of listing every little thing I have going on I'll just focus on what I'm working on at that particular moment. Then maybe blogging that post won't stress me out too! lol

I'm going to work on what I want to work on whenever I feel like working on it, and I'm not going to feel bad if a particular project sits for more than a month or two. I'll get to it eventually, and it will make the finish feel that much sweeter.

A Blogger's Choice Bundle

2011-12-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, you knew I couldn't just let Julie have all the fun with this contest over at Quokka Quilts, right?

Despite the fact that Julie's bundle is sheer genius - unexpected colors in a brilliant combination I've never really seen before - well, I don't stack up, but I'm giving it a go anyway!

And can I tell you? This wasn't easy! I spent a whole bunch of time today working on this, ran through three different color schemes, and finally settled on one that reminds me of home. Home, of course, being Maine.

But probably not the Maine you think of. Not the fall colors - not the coastal colors - not the winter scheme.

This field by my childhood house. This field of golden wheat that swayed in the brief summer sunshine. The golden yellows, the deep earth beneath, and the endless blue sky. It never lasted too long, but the summers back home were just perfect.

My take on the summer field in fabric, unsurprisingly, involves a whole lot of Riley Blake prints!

I really do love this bundle. It just makes me smile. Evokes a bit of sunflower/country kitchen feeling, too, I suppose.

I'm linking it up, and even if I don't win (seriously, stiff competition!), I might just have to move my birthday up and tell the husband I need this bundle!

Blogger's Choice Bundle Competition

2011-12-28T23:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, so you've probably heard that Laura over at Quokka Quilts is having this awesome contest centered around Fat Quarter Shop's Blogger's Choice bundles. If you haven't heard then you MUST go check it out!

Well, I couldn't NOT join in on the fun, now could I?

Not too long ago I was browsing Design Seeds, looking for inspiration for new colors for my living room. This one particular palette just totally jumped out at me.

I've always been a sucker for blues, pinks and greens so it was no surprise that it kept calling my name.

When deciding on a palette for my personal bundle it called out to me again.

Here's my take on this fun, bright palette.

Winner of the competition will win their selected bundle, in 1/2 yard cuts!! How awesome would it be to win the fabric I would need to redecorate my living room!?

Wish me luck!

A whole month! (And a block tutorial!)

2011-12-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Oh. My. Gosh. You. Guys.

It's been a month since I posted. Shame on me!! I cannot even describe how much sewing I've done in the past month. I literally made my fingers bleed! (Caught my fingernail with the up motion of my needle bar. That was a new experience!)

But the nice thing is that I have tons and tons to show you.

Since I owe you a tutorial for that block I posted back in November, I figured now would be a good time to do it. Plus, it's Candi's challenge of the month, and I'm running out of time!
Remember this block?

It still doesn't have a name. Feel free to shout out some suggestions.
Despite its lack of name, it is very easy to construct.

We're going to start with FOUR 7.5" squares of prints, and FOUR 6.5" squares of white
(pretend there is some white there, eh?)

Pairing up the prints so you have two sets, stitch according to Julie's HST tutorial.

Cut apart:

Press, and trim down to 6.5" even:

Once you have your individual half-square triangles assembled, you're going to want to take your FOUR 6.5" white squares, and press them in half diagonally, so you're looking at a folded triangle, as shown on top of the HST blocks here:

Using a 1/8" seam, baste one of the folded squares to the top of each HST, again, as shown above. Make sure that the line of your white square is perpendicular to your center seam on your HST! Baste the OUTSIDE ONLY. Do not stitch the center line yet!
When you've basted, you'll be looking at these:

Now, set those puppies up in a four-patch, with the points meeting in the center. Much like a pinwheel, but since we're dealing with four separate fabrics, it won't much resemble an actual pinwheel.
Once you have your block fully assembled, it's time to peel back the corners of the pie pieces to reveal the curve. Since the fold of your white fabric is on the bias, it creates a natural curve. Don't believe me? Just pull it back a bit - it'll curve! Stitch them down into place like so:

and make sure you've got all four stitched! Once you've finished these curves, your block is complete!

Linking up to Candi's monthly challenge!

Pay It Forwards and a Few Forgotten Blocks....

2011-12-19T23:43:00.000-05:00

Numbers #5 and #6 of my Pay it Forward projects are done and you know what that means? I have them all done, before the end of the year, goal accomplished. Whoo Hoo!!

Number 5 went to my sister, the one who recently got married.

When Spoonflower had their free swatch day a few months back I happened upon a print with pixelated ninjas all over it. There is a private joke about her new husband and him being a ninja so as soon as I saw it I knew I had to get it and make something for one of them.

I settled on a small pouch and just so happened to have everything in my stash to complete it, which made me very happy.

I did some embroidery on the back. My satin stitching is still a bit rough, but it's legible!

There are some ninjas hiding inside too

Well, then I felt like the pouch wasn't enough. I mean, she IS my sister. So I set out to find something else to make for her. I bought some fabric right off the bat. Amy Butler's Love collection is totally right up her alley.

But what to make? I finally decided that she needed another bag. She's all about bags and shoes so I knew she would love another one. I set out to find the perfect one and happened upon an Amy Butler pattern, the Blossom Bag (offered for free at Sew Mama Sew!) But did I have it in me to make another Amy Butler bag? The last one almost killed me! I kept looking for another one I could make, but just kept coming back to the Blossom bag every time, I knew I had to make that one for her.

So I went for it.

I will say that this one was easier than the Sweet Harmony bag I had made. I did have a total Dur! moment when I got the entire bag together and then realized I put the straps on wrong. I was not a very happy camper, there was NO way to fix it and then machine sew them back down.

So instead of having them sewn on like the pattern calls for, I had to remove the little tab that covers where the strap and loop come together, attach some d-rings and then attach another piece of fabric to loop through the d-ring and attach to the strap.

My sister didn't even notice. I'm just really glad I had some d-rings on hand!

Making the bar tacks on the sides was not as difficult as people said it would be. The only thing I did to set my machine up for it was put in a jeans needle. It handled it just fine.

The instructions for the zipper weren't very clear, so I just kind of winged that part.

And of course, being left handed, I put the zipper in wrong. I was trying to be so careful to make sure I put it in right too! She said she hadn't even noticed that either. I really should stop pointing out all of my mistakes to people!

It closes with a magnetic snap, which was a breeze to install after having done it on the other bag.

I will say, even with my mistakes, that I kind of enjoyed this bag. It was tedious, and the amount of interfacing in this sucker is just crazy, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part was probably attaching the curved sides. With all of the stiff interfacing on the pieces it was just difficult to maneuver. Doing the same thing with the lining pieces was a breeze.

I am very happy to say that my sister loves both gifts, and that definitely makes it all worthwhile.

Now on to #6!!

This one went to my sister-in-law. She was harder to figure out what to make. She lives in Texas and I don't get to see her often, so we don't know each other well.

I happened upon an embroidery on Pinterest one day that was a hand print of each family member, one on top of the other. My sister said that my sister-in-law really likes things that remind her of her family, so I went for it. It was really easy to do considering I already had everybody's hand prints!

I didn't stack the hands though, and I made one of them going the opposite direction. My nephew is a lefty like me :)

My sister is in town visiting and will be taking this back to Texas with her, so I'll know in the next few days if my sister-in-law likes it. Fingers crossed!!

And now for the poor forgotten blocks....

These blocks were for the 12 Month Bee for November. Emily asked for Disappearing 9 Patch blocks, and that's what she got!

The next blocks were for a special cause.

Val of PinkPlease! sent out a call for help for some string blocks to make a quilt for the Heroes Foundation. This quilt will be auctioned off to raise money for the foundation. I was one of the many who offered to send her some blocks.

Check out her most recent post about it to see what she has received so far. It's coming together quite nicely!

I think that wraps up everything I have going on right now. My WIP pile hasn't had any change to it in recent weeks, nor have I started anything new so there isn't really much to report. Well, I say nothing new but I did teach myself to knit and am now obsessed with that. More on that later!

Bree has been uber busy with Christmas orders and getting her own gifts made so she's been spending all of her free time at the sewing machine.

So, unless something totally awesome happens that I just can't wait to share with you, I'm going to sign off until after the holiday. Lots to do and just 5 days left to get it done! Plus, the kids are home and the hubby will be too, so I'm going to have my hands full.

Whatever it is that you are celebrating this holiday season, I wish you and yours the very best!

And We Have a Winner!!

2011-12-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Via Random.org

Our winner is Meghan!!

Congrats Meghan! I'll be sending you an email for your mailing info shortly!

Thanks everyone for all of the wonderful gift suggestions (and cookie recipes)! You've definitely given me some great ideas, I've been building my shopping list while reading them all week long, LOL!

It's Giveaway Day! (Giveaway Closed)

2011-12-12T16:35:00.003-05:00

Giveaway is now closed...I just realized when I re-designed the blog I lost our numbered comments, oops! I'll announce the winner as soon as I figure out how to put them back!

Did you guys think we forgot about giveaway day? I almost did! I told Bree I would handle it since she is totally swamped with Christmas orders and I kept putting it off. Then I remembered late yesterday afternoon that I needed to put something together and instead of being a good girl and getting it done I chose to play Xbox with my husband, oops!

I sent Bree an email first thing this morning and said I still don't know what to do for the giveaway! We brainstormed a bit and I put together something that I hope you all like!

I broke into my beloved Castle Peeps stash that I won from Lee during the Supernova Quilt Along giveaway for this one. It was so hard cutting this fabric up but I sure do love the final results!

So up for grabs today is a Castle Peeps notebook and a drawstring bag

(made with Jeni's awesome tutorial)

Would you like to win these?

All you have to do is leave us a comment. No need to become a follower or like us on Facebook or anything. If this is your first time visiting, feel free to look around while you're here, you're more than welcome to stay! And if you'd like to check us out on Facebook we have a link right over there in the sidebar, come on over!

Anyway, leave us a comment and give us some gift ideas for kids. I need good stuff, stuff that they'll play with, stuff that won't fall apart within a week. I'm so tired of our money going to waste on crap each year. And if you can't think of anything for kids, how about the husbands? Men can be so hard to shop for! An awesome cookie recipe would also be a good comment to leave :)

Giveaway is open until this Friday, the 16th, at 8:00 pm EST. I'll announce the winner by Sunday night. Please make sure if you are a no-reply blogger that you leave an email address so I can notify you if you win. International entries are welcome.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

December Quilt Challenge of the Month-A Tutorial

2011-12-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

So Candi's challenge for December is to take that block we designed last month and do a tutorial on it. So here goes!

First off I want to say, that while I completely came up with the idea for this block, I did happen upon a block online that is very similar to it. As a matter of fact, the corner pieces are the only difference between the two. I have absolutely no idea if this block has already been done, I hadn't seen it before making it and posting about it. I simply sat down on my computer and trusy ol' Microsoft Paint and started coloring in triangles and squares. So my apologies if someone else has already created this block. As for the one I saw online, it was on Flickr and posted in someone's photo as a group of blocks she received back from a bee. I couldn't even tell you who made the one that I saw online the other day!

Ok, now that I got that out of the way! To create my block you will need:

(I think I'm going to do this tutorial in pictures, I just realized it's hard to explain things with so many different prints in one block!)

half square triangle tutorial

Lay your pieces out as pictured. Be careful with the layout, this can be a little like putting together a puzzle. Or change it up if you want! It's your block, do what you want :)

Now sew it together! I like to sew them into 4 patches first.

That's it, you're done!

Hey, did you know Distant Pickles has a Flickr Group? No? Well, we do! If you make one of these blocks, or anything else from our tutorials, we'd love to see it!

Distant Pickles Flickr Group

T-Shirt Quilt, Done and Done!

2011-12-06T20:36:00.001-05:00

It's done! Yay! And just in time for Christmas, whew!

It was too big to hang, I had to fold it over the line!

I totally felt like I finished this one twice. Not because it was time consuming, but because it was given to me twice to work on!

The story behind this one is that a friend of mine from my local stitch and bitch, and also an employee of the quilt shop where I attend said stitch and bitch, was given this commissioned job from a friend of her family's. She just didn't have the time to work on it though so it sat in the store for a couple of months. She approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing the job for the commission. Well, with Christmas right around the corner, who can't use the extra cash?

Oh look, the sun tried to come out to play!

Having never done a t-shirt quilt before though I was a bit nervous. One of the other ladies there was a pro though and she gave me all the tips and tricks I needed. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be! Ironing on all of the interfacing wasn't that fun, but I popped in a movie and it was a breeze.

The customer designed every bit of this quilt, down to the order of the t-shirts. I was basically just the labor, lol.

I pieced the breast piece from the front of each shirt into the backing

Once I had the top and backing pieced I sent it back to my friend at the LQS and she quilted it on the longarm machine per the customer's request.

Then back to me for the binding and the rest is history!

Sorority shirts

It's made up completely of the daughter's sorority shirts, what a great memento of her college years! I really hope she loves it.

In other news, Bree and I finally got our little blog up on Facebook! You can find us here:

Distant Pickles Facebook Page

Or by clicking on the link over there in the right column ----->

Oh, and one more thing!! I changed the blog around a little bit again. I was worried that having three columns made it a little difficult to read. I removed one of the columns and added some tabs to making browsing cleaner and easier. SO, if you're reading this in your reader, click on through and take a look. We'd love to hear what you think!

A Block Design Challenge Finish!

2011-11-30T18:53:00.000-05:00

So last month, Candi issued a UFO challenge that got my butt in gear and made me finish up my Kaleidoscope quilt - a challenge which I am quite grateful for!

Naturally, this month, when she posted her new challenge.. I was totally in. The challenge was simple - design an original block. Only constraint was that it needed to be 12" finished. Easy enough, right?
Uh, not so much. You should see how many sketches I went through.
I finally settled on this pinwheeling situation. I'm not sure what to call it. It was supposed to be a bit more circular in the original design, but I quite like the rounded square center that resulted. I am envisioning it in red and white.. wouldn't it look quite like a peppermint pillow mint?!

Linking up to Candi!

Not Much Shakin' on Wednesday

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

I've been slacking off lately, in more ways than one. I churned out those gifts and a few other small things and then hit a wall. Then I threw out my back and couldn't move, got better for a few days, then threw it out again. I say threw it out, I'm sure it wasn't that bad, but it did put me out of commission for a few days each time. Sewing, running, cleaning, you name it, it's been ignored. I did get a little pep in my step these past couple of days though and am working on tackling things one day at a time.

So here's my pitiful list...

Ongoing projects....

12 Month Bee Blocks

None to do...we're taking a break for December!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

Second verse, same as the first.

Denim Winter Quilt

Cut up some more jeans, need to cut squares and get back to work.

Little Faces Quilt

I ordered binding, that's progress, right?

Commissioned T-shirt Quilt

This has been pieced, sent off to the longarm, received back from the longarm, and is now awaiting binding. It's big and bulky and a lot to maneuver so I'm going to wait until it's done to show off.

New projects...

Quilt Challenge of the Month

with Raccoon Creek Quilts

This is the second month I've participated in Candi's Challenges. October's challenge was to finish a UFO. My goal was to finish the denim quilt, that obviously didn't happen.

This month we were to create a quilt block, any quilt block that we could come up with. The only stipulation was that it be 12.5" (12" finished).

Here's mine!

It's kind of loud and funky but I dig it. I do wish I had used something else besides the stripes though. I think if I make this one again I'll use the fabrics that I used for the diamond shape (the white one and the red one) in place of the stripes. I'll alternate them so the white one will be facing where the red points out and vice versa.

Candi says this month's challenge will be part 1 of a 3 part challenge. I'm anxious to see what she has in store for us for December!

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

As pitiful as it is, I'm still linking it up! Happy WIP Wednesday!

Mystery Quilt Revealed!

2011-11-29T02:14:00.000-05:00

The mystery quilt has made it to it's final destination, time to show it off!

This one was for a dear friend of mine who recently gave birth to a sweet baby girl.

I thought I had more time to get this one done but Piper decided to make her entrance about 3 months early! So I got straight to work and finished it up lickety split.

She is doing really well for being born so early and continues to amaze all who know her every day.

I'd like to thank Melissa at Happy Quilting for this great Moda Bake Shop pattern, with the nice, clean instructions I was able to get this done and sent to Piper in record time! I hope it helps keep her nice and warm, she has lots more growing to do!

A Little Bit of Behind the Scenes Sewing

2011-11-19T15:29:00.001-05:00

It seems I'm in full blown gift making mode lately. I have a few things I'm working on that don't make the WIP Wednesday posts just because I'm afraid to show them off for fear of ruining a surprise for the recipient!

I'm going to do something different and show them off, and then let that recipient be surprised when it shows up on their doorstep :)

First up is a scarf for an awesome friend. This is another "just because" gift to show my appreciation for helping me out with something. I can't really go into details on what she did because then she'll know it's for her!

I used this tutorial at Bloom with some Valori Wells Wrenly voile, it just felt right for this particular friend.

Isn't it just cute on Mr. Puppy?

Next up is another notebook. This actually went to the person who I made the first one for.

I went searching through her Flickr photostream after making the original one and realized she had a more sophisticated sense of style.

I got a bit worried that she wouldn't like the fishies and put this one together instead.

And I remembered to put elastic on this one to hold it together!

I'm happy to report that she loves it, whew!

I made a lot of progress on the mystery quilt too. Matter of fact, it's done!

I still can't show it off completely though. Remember, it has a name embroidered in the middle of it. I'll be back with more pictures once it's received, promise :)

Don't forget, Bree is a finalist in the Riley Blake Designs contest. Go check her project out and if you like it, vote! (Pssst....hers is called Second Wind)

A Riley Blake Finalist!

2011-11-14T14:51:00.000-05:00

Squee!!
I'm so excited to get to share this...
Riley Blake has been hosting a Cruisin' With Riley Blake contest for the greater part of this year. I entered my Haunted House quilt into the quilt category, but fell short among all the awesome competition. I was determined not to fall totally flat again this time, so in home decor, I entered my Second Wind quilt... and I'm actually a finalist! *Swoon!*

So, if you are so obliged, I'd greatly appreciate the votes. Hello, fabulous fabric prizes from my favorite manufacturer!!

Voting is located here, and mine is the "Second Wind" entry.

The Bionic Woman: an Update

2011-11-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

The bionic woman is now in rehab care at a nursing home for a couple of weeks, until she's strong enough to go stay at my Aunt's home. We're still planning to go for Christmas. My mother went up to visit with her and is still there now, and sent me a picture today.

I decided to send the Ogee quilt up a bit early. Figured she could use a perk-up - she sounded pretty down-and-out the first time I got to talk to her. I'm glad I could bring a bit of comfort and a smile to her face:

I'm still quilting away over here. I've been so distracted with worry that I haven't been blogging much, but I'll be back to it soon!

Another Mini Challenge, Well Sort Of...

2011-11-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

Y'all didn't think I was going to let Bree know about a challenge and not try to enter it myself did you?

Well, I almost didn't. I have so much required sewing that I need to do that I was having trouble finding the time for the fun sewing. And the sad thing is that I have so many mini ideas floating through my head and I knew I could put something together!

Anyway, one of my required projects is a thank you gift, just a little token of appreciation for someone who helped me out. I remembered last night, while I was putting it together, that the requirement for the mini challenge was a patchwork project. It didn't HAVE to be a mini quilt. So I thought, why not enter it?

I usually have a pretty hard time with improv piecing, my brain needs order and symmetry. But this one just really seemed to come together quite easily for me.

I think maybe it has something to do with these cute little fishies

Here it is all put together and ready to head to its new home!

I hope she likes it!

Here's the link up, check out all of the other fun projects!

A Mini Challenge

2011-11-11T06:20:00.000-05:00

I'll admit, I've never really understood the purpose of mini quilts. I mean.. I get table runners, placemats, wall hangings, but just a miniature quilt? What are you supposed to do with that? It's not exactly like there's an abundance of cold dollies needing warmth up in this household of mine. Army men, perhaps.

So Julie showed me this challenge over at Amy Lou Who Sews. Simple enough - make a mini in two weeks, and post about it.

So I did! I was working on a disappearing 9 patch for a coworker, which I stupidly forgot to get photos of before he shipped it off to his mother in Puerto Rico, and as soon as I finished, I started messing around with scraps, and came out with some wonky interlocking stars.

Hey, this is pretty fun! It measures 12"x14.5", which I suppose makes it a slightly swelled mini-quilt. It could be mini-er, but I'm satisfied for a first try, eh?

I also played with some different free motion ideas. I did a sort-of seaweed type of wavy line situation that comes from the inner part of each star. I'm pretty happy with the look, but I'd like to try different types of free motion, too.

The back is a pretty little stripe from From Little Things (as are the materials on the front). Binding is Kona Azure.

(See the fun quilting on the back?)

Linking up to Amy Lou Who Sews - thanks for the challenge, Amy!

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

Another slow week here. It seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day all of a sudden! I did make a teeny bit of progress on a couple of new projects though so I guess that's something :)

Ongoing projects....

12 Month Bee Blocks

Here is October's block. Stephanie asked for a starburst block, which I've been itching to try since first seeing it in blogland. She had us follow a different tutorial from the original one I have seen that separated it into quadrants instead of halves. I found it really easy to follow. The points don't all line up exactly in the center but she didn't really want them to anyway.

I just got the fabric for November's block yesterday, it's a quick and easy one so I'll be able to knock it out quick.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

Same story as last week, still nothing new.

Denim Winter Quilt

No new progress on this one either.

Little Faces Quilt

I went ahead with the scrappy sashing and got it all put together, yay! I still need to frame it with the scraps and maybe put a blue border around it. Or maybe I should just leave it as is and put a colorful binding on it. Thoughts?

New projects...

Quite Contrary project

This is the one I started last Friday. It will remain a bit of a mystery for a little while longer but here's a sneak peek.

I spent Friday and Saturday night working on piecing it and got the entire top put together. I'd like to try to finish it within the next week.

T shirt quilt

This is a commissioned job I picked up a couple of weeks ago and just picked up the t shirts and got started on over the weekend. So far I have all of the interfacing ironed on to the shirts.

25 shirts in this one, plus sashing and borders. It's going to be a big one! Fortunately all I have to do is piece the top and then deliver it to be quilted on the long arm. Then she'll give it back to me to bind and it's done! Not a bad deal for my first t shirt quilt because I was already nervous going into it!

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

That's it! I promised I would have a couple of new things and hopefully there will be time for some more real soon. I have lots of stuff going through my head, I need to get it out!

Linking up with Lee!

A New Beginning

2011-11-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

Finally! The start of something new

This one is going with me to tonight's Stitch and Bitch, hopefully I'll have something more to show you real soon!

And a peek at Little Faces, sashed.

It's crazy windy outside today so I can't get a better picture just yet. It sure is cheerful up on the design wall though :)

Not much progress on WIP Wednesday

2011-11-02T02:44:00.000-04:00

It has been quite slow in the sewing department lately. This commitment to finish up UFOs before beginning anything new is really taking a bite out of me. I picked up the denim quilt again, determined to finish it for these cold nights, and just became very uninspired. I must have stared at it for 3 weeks before finally making my mind up to just work on it already!

On top of that I've been battling a nasty chest cold. It's been about a week now and just seems to not want to let up. I haven't done much of anything (other than my mommy duties of course) besides lay around and try to rest up. I even quit running for the past week because running with a chest cold=no fun. I did go back out last night and logged a 2 mile run for the first time ever in my life! If any of you are on the fence about starting the C25K program (I know it took me months to finally commit to it), don't be scared of it. It really works!

In Progress...

12 Month Bee Blocks

November 2 and I still haven't done October's block :( I have a little bit of time though because I have something else to send to my bee mate and she said I can send it all back together. November's fabric hasn't arrived yet but we're making Disappearing 9 patches and I'm and old pro at those ;)

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

I'm still caught up, but only to this week. I don't have anything new to show.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

I hate to do this, but I think this may have to move down to the on hold pile until after Christmas. I still haven't bought the rest of the fabric I need to complete the top and still have 50 arcs to piece. I need to get through holiday shopping and sewing so this needs to be put aside.

Denim Winter Quilt

Here is where I last left off with this one, I had 14 whole pieces sewn down.

And here is where I am as of Sunday night, when I ran out of my precut denim squares yet again. And please excuse the late night messy roomed cell phone pic. I needed something quick to text to Bree to get her opinion on something ;)

It's been very slow going, but I finally made some good progress on it. I have to cut up some more jeans and then cut those into squares to get moving again and well, cutting is not my favorite part of the sewing process.

Little Faces Quilt

I pulled this from the on hold pile after putting the denim quilt away. I'm playing around with the layout of the top and am having some issues deciding.

My original plan was to sew the blocks to each other and then put a blue border around it, then a scrappy border, then another blue border. Then I started playing and am now thinking about putting a scrappy sashing in instead of the scrappy border.

I'm worried it may get too busy if I do this, though I do like how it looks. What do you think?

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

I know I haven't shown anything new lately. I love that I'm knocking out all of my UFOs but I'm starting to feel like I'm stifling my creativity. I have lots of holiday sewing to do and a couple more pay it forwards to work on. I also picked up a couple of commissioned jobs so I'll be getting to work on some more stuff and will have more to show real soon! So don't give up on me yet, ok?

Linking up with Lee yet again!

A Superbly Bionic Heart of Steel and Epic Proportions!

2011-10-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

The title alone should tell you I'm quite miserable at all things scientific, eh? Math's my thing.

Thank you all for the prayers for my grandmother.

From my medically-savvy Aunt: "They replaced the aortic arch and the descending aorta. " In layman's terms... she's got herself some bionic parts. Perfect, if you ask me. Normal human parts can't stand up to a woman like her. New parts mean she's going to last longer and be stronger and do more with those new parts than a normal person could do with their whole heart.

Continued prayers are certainly welcome - they're watching her blood pressure and praying against any sort of recovery complications such as stroke. My mother's gone up to be with her for an undetermined amount of time - she'll be in the hospital for around a week and she'll need a lot of help when she gets home. Keep sending good thoughts her way.

Ogee is travelling up with my dad in another week or so - he'll be driving up with my sister. It's supposed to be a Christmas gift, but with her being laid up, I think she could use the perk-up. The plan is still for us to go home for Christmas - I fear that Kid being around while she's recovering from open-heart surgery might just be a bit too much, so we'll keep him and his endless supply of energy down here until Christmas.

<3

Dissecting Aorta and Matching Birdies

2011-10-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned my grandma before on this blog, but probably not as extensively as I should to truly represent how much she has influenced my life.

My grandma is my rock, my inspiration, and my best friend. I talk to her daily. We share project ideas, recipes, secrets. She taught me to sew, she inspires my current projects, and she encourages me in my creative endeavors.

She is heart. All heart. The woman gives, loves... she's strong. There's not a soul on earth who dislikes her. She's kind, and she's fun. She went parasailing last time she was down here. She just went to a haunted house last weekend. She's the "cool" grandma. She fist-bumps instead of hand-shaking. She dances with Kid. She helps me make quilts for the hospital.

She's the sweet melody of a songbird on a quiet spring morning, the rustling of the leaves in the fall, and every other great memory you can think of.

She's these pillows:

And this quilt:

And this bird:

And she's in emergency surgery for a dissecting aorta. I prefer to think that her heart's just trying to escape from her because it's too big to be held in by her ribcage. Regardless, prayers are needed and appreciated greatly.

I try not to get heavy or personal on the blog too much, but... this is my grandma. She's my rock. And I need her. She's gotta stick around, you know? So, if you pray, pray. If you don't, send good thoughts. Please.

Second Wind - a Wicked Late Kaleidoscope Finish

2011-10-29T22:35:00.001-04:00

I've been way behind on the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along with Don't Call Me Betsy... started late, fell off the bandwagon, delayed, delayed...
then Candi at Raccoon Creek Quilts posted her UFO challenge and got my bum in gear!

I busted most of this out last week. It's called Second Wind because a series of late night second winds got it done. Remember my rule of 2? 2 A.M. and a 2 liter of mountain dew? Totally happened here.

Without further ado...

Second Wind!

And, to match my grandmother's Ogee quilt and tie them together a bit, I've placed a small bird in the bottom corner of the backing:

Fabric is Lola's Posies by Riley Blake Designs, with a bit of Kona Caribbean on the front, Azure on the back, and Free to Grow (Mod Green Pod) as the binding. Interesting fact? I won Lola's Posies and Free to Grow. The only thing I bought for this quilt were the solids!

Linking this up to Sew Modern Monday:

Ogee, it's the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

2011-10-28T15:09:00.000-04:00

This is my second time participating in The Blogger's Quilt Festival - I love getting the inspiration by poking through everyone else's link ups!

No surprise, this entry is my recently finished Ogee Quiltalong (Rebecca Johnson's Curlicue Crush pattern, quilt along led by Lesly, at Stitch Literate.)

This quilt was a bit of heartache, but mostly heart. It's a yet-to-be-given Christmas gift for my grandmother (who hopefully isn't reading the blog.. but I'm pretty sure she already knows I made it).

The fabric choice was a breeze. I selected 20 prints from Sunkissed and paired it with Kona Banana. The colors.. they're just her. You know? Someone can usually look at a pile of hot pink, cerulean, lime, and orange and say "BREE!". This pile was just her. It's sunny summer afternoons on her back porch, it's the warm and friendly vibe she gives off. It's generosity and sweetness evoked by a color palette.

The pattern called to me. It reminds me of those old, hanging ornate birdcages - and since birds are her favorite, it was only a natural selection.

This quilt had a few bloopers along the way. That dadblasted birdcage? It looked a whole lot more like a crying onion at one point than a bird cage:

(See it? step back from your monitor.) It's a crying onion. And while I greatly appreciate the irony in a crying onion, it did not make me very happy! It took some finagling to turn it around and come back to the birdcage:

Once the birdcage was sorted out, the rest was a breeze. I'm thrilled to be giving this to my grandma - she taught me to sew and has encouraged me every step of the way!

As a part of my small tribute to her, I've placed a matching birdie on my own recently finished KSQA quilt:

Post coming soon about that - it's finally finished!

Go check out the rest of the quilts at the festival - I can't wait to see what everyone's got in store!

For the Love of Solids Swap-Received!!

2011-10-24T14:11:00.002-04:00

It only took 5 1/2 weeks after the mailing deadline to receive but it's finally here!

I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting downright depressed that I still hadn't received my package. Out of 90 something swappees there were only 4 left that were still waiting, FOUR.

And I was one of them, which just seems to be my luck as of late.

It turns out we had two people who joined the swap and then were never heard from again. So Elizabeth and Megan got right to work on angel packages for the recipients of these two people. They both posted pictures of what they were working on in the Flickr group. Megan's was a late night cell phone picture where you couldn't really tell what color it was but she was very excited about the fact that it was a rainbow palette. So I got excited thinking it would be for me because I specifically asked for rainbows!

But she also said it would be there by that weekend (which was a few weeks ago) and when it didn't arrive I figured I was wrong and it wasn't for me after all.

So every day I would check the mail box and every day I would be disappointed. But today was different. Today I actually saw my mail carrier put a package in there! So I ran out and checked the mail and there it was!! And it was from Megan!! It turns out she was busy preparing for and going to the Sewing Summit (lucky girl!) that she didn't get a chance to send it out until last week.

I love how colorful the zipper is!

She even sent me a sampler pack of Aurifil. I have been dying to get my hands on one of these so I could try out all the different weights but I haven't been able to win any of the giveaways out there!

Here it is in my ~~messy~~ sewing corner, it really brightens things up!

Thank you SO much Megan, for stepping up and sending me this awesome swap package. I really do love it! And thank you for finally putting an end to my suffering, LOL!

Kaleidoscope.. an almost-finished post

2011-10-23T12:19:00.000-04:00

Just figured I'd post real pictures since my camera has returned to me :)

The front:

The back:

and the little birdie in the corner:

I'm still deciding on a binding. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards using this fabric:

(Free to Grow, Mod Green Pod organics)

Thoughts?

Friday Night Sew In Results

2011-10-22T20:36:00.000-04:00

Complete with crappy cell-phone pictures!

The husband has been camping this week, so I have been on a crazy sew-a-thon, complete with finally participating in the Friday Night Sew-In at Handmade by Heidi!
You can check out everyone else's progress on the link at Crafty Vegas Mom this week.

As posted on Wednesday or so, I'm finally tackling the Kaleidoscope QAL that has been sitting on my wall forever. Since the husband is camping, my camera is with him, so you're stuck with cell-phone photos until he comes back with the camera.
A refresher on what the fabric actually looks like with a normal camera:

Bold, deep, rich. Lola's Posies by Riley Blake Designs.

So, I hadn't pieced a bit of this at all. Late Thursday night, I finished up the top:

So my Friday Night Sew-in was completely devoted to the back!

I only bought two yards for the back, and the quilt is about 60" wide, so I needed to piece it. I love a pieced backing, so that's no problem.
I decided to tackle the ever-popular Swoon blocks. Now.. I'm a cheapie. I didn't buy the pattern. That means my lunch break on Friday went to figuring out the math. Good thing I got it right, I didn't really have any spare scraps from my Lola's Posies to be messing around with!!

After a lot of cutting, a sore wrist, loads of HST assembly using the square method, and about 3 hours, I had one block. One.

Grumble.

It was 11 PM when this was finished. I had hoped to have all three blocks I needed done by 11!!
Well.. they said sew til you drop, so I did.
Two more hours went by and I finally had my quilt back done!

Somehow, I feel like that doesn't look like much progress, but it was about 5 hours solid!

KSQA is now basted and ready to quilt!

KSQA... it's ON!

2011-10-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

Alright, this has been sitting around untouched for just long enough where it's bordering on a UFO and not a WIP. Everything else for everyone else keeps getting in the way.

Enough is enough! Time for some sewing for me, I say!

I've kicked the husband out of the house for the next several evenings, and have full intentions of finishing the top and piecing the back, at minimum, with goals to baste so I can quilt next week!

In case you've forgotten what it looks like, since I sorta have...
I started with a pile of Lola's Posies from Riley Blake Designs:

and played a little bit with it:

It's totally rad, right? and it's totally for me. And it's totally still on the wall. But starting tonight, no more! I'm busting this WIP this week if it kills me!

I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, because WIP Wednesday linkups whip me into shape.. and I need a whip up!

Kid Quilting

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Betcha you think I'm going to talk about quilting for kids. Quilts made for children. Child-oriented novelty fabrics.

Nope. I'm talking about Kid. Quilting.

How old is old enough to start sewing? I was about 6 when I started hand-sewing, and 7 when I started on machine.

Kid's already shown an interest and he "helps" me frequently. He'll hand me pieces to stitch together, he helps guide the fabric while on my lap... he quite loves to piece. His favorite, though, is picking out fabrics. He is the reason my scraps are never as organized as they should be.

Case and point:

No, but seriously... after he dumps out the fabric, he plays with it. He organizes by color and size, and tells me what he wants to sew together. We can't go to Joann's or the quilt shop without coming home with at least one cut he picked. (See the fish in the below photo? That was today's buy.)

He spent well over an hour today sorting the above basket of strips:

So, we've decided to let him make his first quilt. All those strips are about 3"x18". Leftovers from cutting tumblers out of fat quarters. There are a ton of different lines in there - Beetle Boy, Count with Maisy, Spot's Favorite Colors, Mr. Fix It, Sparky Pound Hounds, Hungry Caterpillar... not enough of any one line to make anything more than a block, really. Together, it will be quite scrappy, but it should be bright!

I plan to cut out 3" squares from the strips and let him do a simple patchwork design. No real pattern, just squares to squares, and see how big it is in the end. See that Woody iron-on in front of him? That'll probably find its way onto the front, too. I can't promise it'll be the coolest or most modern quilt out there, but we will have fun making it!

So... look for that quilt sometime in the next year or two, eh? He gets distracted after about 10 minutes of stitching. ;)

A Second Seuss and Some Bonus Finishes

2011-10-16T22:57:00.001-04:00

Do you guys remember this quilt from back in June?

It was made for one of my husband's coworkers, who had just recently found out she was pregnant. She was about 7 weeks at the time that I made it. I don't usually do gifts that early, but he was excited and wanted me to make something so he could show it off, lol. So.. he picked the fabric and basic design, and I sewed it up, and off he went. She loved it!

Then...

she found out she was having twins.

Uh.... oops. Guess I need to make another quilt, eh? You can't very well give just one quilt to two babies!

I've been putting it off. No hurry, she's not due until January or so. I think... I should double check that, eh?

Well, this weekend, I was feeling fidgety. I'm just about Halloween-project'ed out (Read: I'm running out of Halloween stash fabrics!) and I wanted to get something DONE. I started playing with some scraps - roughly 3" wide strips of Seuss fabrics. It evolved quickly into a quilt-as-you-go string quilt (following the bottled rainbows method), and in a weekend, we have a new finish!

Not a bad coordinate, right? I didn't want to do identical quilts, but I still wanted them to coordinate. I quite like it, and now the string quilt bug has bitten me!

I also pulled off another early Christmas finish... a Toy Story themed rag quilt for Kid. We're hoping to travel home to Maine for Christmas this year, and I figure a new quilt will make for one small distraction on the ride up!

And a 1600 Jelly-Roll quilt as an appreciation/birthday gift for my awesome hairdresser:

Have you guys tried that pattern out yet? SO easy and so quick!! Not to mention modern and actually, sorta manly. My 18 year old brother has requested one in black, white, and orange for Christmas.

So... lots of quick finishes lately. Next on my project list is KSQA, which has been sitting on my design wall for far, far too long!

A Diaper Bag for Baby Abbagail

2011-10-14T07:49:00.001-04:00

I mentioned Wednesday that I was working on a commissioned project. I had one of the ladies from the daycare where I used to take my kids (before I had so many that the expense of daycare put me out of work) call me and ask me if I made diaper bags. I told her I had never made a diaper bag before but that I do like to make bags and happened to have a tote bag pattern that would make an excellent one.

Do you remember this bag that I made for the giveaway?

It was made with the Bow Tucks Tote Bag pattern. It's finished size is something like 11"x13" and 5" deep and it has a ton of pockets on the inside.

I showed her this picture and she fell in love with it and asked me to make one for her friend's impending arrival.

She said the mom-to-be liked pink, purple, butterflies and flowers. I just so happened to have some fabric that fit the bill perfectly!

She asked if I could embroider her name on it. I told her I did embroider, but I was still a bit new to it and my stitching isn't perfect. She didn't care. She said that was the beauty of handmade items. I think I might love her :)

I measured the pockets of the one I made for the giveaway to see if diapers and bottles would fit and they were perfect, so I used the same pocket measurements for this one.

I delivered it to her Wednesday night and she loved it!

Yay for a happy customer!

You know, I bought this pattern with the sole intention of making a bag for myself. This is the second one I have made and I still don't have one for me! Oh well, at least I'm getting plenty of use out of the pattern! I think by the time I get around to making one for myself I'll be able to do it in my sleep :)

WIP Wednesday-Pay it Forward and Farmer's Wife Edition

2011-10-12T04:00:00.002-04:00

I haven't been as productive this week, just some Farmer's Wife progress really. I am working on a commissioned project that I'll be sharing later this week when I get it done. Since my knee is feeling better I've gotten back into running and working out and am very happy about that, it just means a little bit less sewing time.

This week I will begin week 4 of the C25K program. I ran in the rain for the first time on Monday and it was pretty awesome! It was very refreshing and cleansing, I wouldn't mind doing it more often. My husband met me at the door with a towel when I got back, he's so sweet. Then he patted my backside and joked that I was dry back there so I must have been moving foward, LOL. Ok, maybe he's not as sweet as I thought :P

In Progress...

12 Month Bee Blocks

I've received the fabric for October's block and LOVE the colors! I haven't gotten around to them yet though.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

I was able to make lots of progress on the Farmer's Wife QA last week. I did manage to sew together the 18 blocks that I had cut out and am now officially 1 month ahead of the quilt along schedule, yay!

Here they are all together now, all 44 of them.

Click here to get to my Flickr photostream if you'd like to see the blocks individually.

I'm still only using scraps and keeping to the templates. And yes, the baskets still need handles. I think I'm sensing a pattern here. I was a bit worried in the very beginning that the scrappy look wasn't going to go well, but now that I'm almost to the halfway point I think it's looking good!

There are a few noteworthy ones I want to show off.

This one right here has 64 individual pieces to it. Sixty Four!!

Here it is laid out before putting it together

Next to a finished block so you can see how small it would get when put together!

I timed myself putting it together, it took 52 minutes. Wowza. It was fun though! I love that these blocks are like putting together little puzzles.

This one is the one where I tackled the Y seam. I totally made it my...um...you know what ;)

I was so confused putting it together at first. Once I realized it was a Y seam I had a total "Duh" moment, LOL

This one had an angled seam. See it between the pink petal and the yellow one? That one took me a minute to figure out too. The blocks have all been so easy up to this point, I guess I just got thrown for a loop.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

No progress again this week. No biggie :)

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Little Faces Quilt from 12 Month Bee

Denim Winter Quilt-This one's up next, it's getting cold!

Now for the Pay it Forward gifts!

These are for my friend Ginnie. It was a little hard to figure out what to make for her. She's very earth friendly and not one to have stuff just to have stuff. So I wanted to make her something that would be useful to her. I remembered one time that she mentioned wanting some reusable shopping bags that she could actually wash so I ran with that.

I whipped these up using the Bijou Lovely Market Tote tutorial.

They were fun and easy to make. It was a nice change to be able to just whip something up in an afternoon too. They are really big and she should be able to fit lots of groceries in them. I'm thinking I need to make a few for myself too!

Linking it up!

Busting My WIPs on Wednesday

2011-10-05T12:54:00.001-04:00

It's been a good week! Hubby and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary on Friday by heading to the fun park sans kids and racing go-karts, then having a nice quiet sit down dinner. My knee started feeling LOADS better over the weekend and as of today I am completely pain free! And I've gotten lots of stuff done in the sewing department. I really hope I can keep this momentum going, it's such a nice change from the depressed state I had been in the previous week, that's for sure!

So what have I done?

In Progress...

12 Month Bee Blocks

Just waiting on October's package to arrive in the mail. We get to make starburst blocks!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

I've spent the last three evening pulling fabrics and cutting from templates. Once I sew them together I will have 18 more blocks. If I finish them before the week is out I will be a full MONTH ahead. Whoo Hoo!!

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

Nothing new here...

Finished...

I finished three, that's right THREE of my on hold quilts!!! They weren't the largest quilts so they weren't that hard. I'm really glad to have busted three WIPs though! I basted these before our date on Friday and quilted and bound them on Saturday.

I tried machine stitching the binding down for the first time and you know what? It didn't kill me! I'm not a convert or anything and will continue to hand stitch my bindings down but I thought I would try it. I used a zig zag stitch because I knew if I used a straight stitch I wouldn't be able to keep it on the binding all the way around and would hate it. I do like the way it looks, I'll admit it. It is nice to know I have this option if I'm in a jam and need it done quick.

Strawberry Lemonade Snowball Quilt

I quilted a cross-hatch design, diagonally through the snowballs. I'm having a lot of fun finding other ways to quilt besides free motion stippling.

I used the same backing for this one and the Ritzy Cracker quilt. I had a hard time finding a backing to go with these fabrics. The collection itself is OOP and I couldn't find yardage that I liked. I found this one in the clearance section at Fabric.com and thought it was perfect!

Strawberry Lemonade Ritzy Cracker Quilt

This one about killed me putting together. I realized I am not a fan of the cracker block. Not sure why, just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I do like the finished look though!

I quilted following the seams of some of the blocks on this one, also creating a cross-hatch design. I had a hard time getting a good picture of it though.

Dill Blossoms Hexagon Quilt

This started out as a layer cake that I loved. I tried so hard to find something to make with it and settled on half hexagons. This was another one that I really didn't like putting together. I guess that's why these quilts sat on hold for soooo long. I think I started this one over a year ago!

I had a hard time finding a backing for this one too. Then I realized that the Kona Azure that I had 11 yards of (yes, 11 yards. I bought it for the DWR and decided I didn't want to use it for that. Sigh...) Anyway, the Azure was a perfect match for the blue in the quilt top. So I backed it and bound it with it. Hey, I have 11 yards to use up! I do like the finished product.

I quilted outside the seams of the hexagons on this one, I like the pattern it created! Just ignore those wrinkles from it being folded, ok?

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Little Faces Quilt from 12 Month Bee

Denim Winter Quilt-This one's up next, it's getting cold!

Check out how small that list has gotten!! Can you believe it? I can't!

I do have a few projects I've been sneaking in here and there, mostly projects that never made it as a WIP because I started and finished them in between Wednesdays. Either that or they were gifts so I couldn't post them until they were received. I'll do a separate post on those.

I also spent some time yesterday working on the new design for the blog. It had been so long since I originally set it up I forgot how to do it! I got an email from Bree while I was in the middle of it telling me that she was getting a good laugh out of hitting refresh. She said it changed every time she did, LOL.

Anyway, if you're reading this in your reader then click on over and check it out! Let me know what you think please and if you see anything that I need to fix. We tested it out in Chrome, Firefox and IE and as long as you have your zoom set to 100% *cough* Bree *cough* then you shouldn't have any issues viewing it. Let me know if you do though so I can look into it. We wanted to keep it clean and pleasant to look at and as organized as possible. I hope you guys like it!

Linking it up!

Oh. Em. Gee. It's Ogee!

2011-10-03T22:45:00.002-04:00

That's right, ladies and gents, I finally finished it!

Rebecca Johnson's Curlicue Crush pattern, quilt along led by Lesly, at Stitch Literate.

Fabric is Sunkissed, Kona Banana, and some various scraps of unknown origin.

Time...
well...
it took a while. But that was mostly due to a cutting error on my part that required the resizing of every. single. piece.

And I'm totally thrilled with the outcome! This is a special sort of quilt. Not to say that all quilts are not special, just that this one holds special meaning to me.

I picked Sunkissed because it reminds me of warm and sunny Maine afternoons spent on the back porch at my grandmother's house. Usually with a Diet Pepsi and an italian sandwich in hand, and often interrupted by a brief and sudden thunderstorm, those afternoons are some of the best I remember. I picked it because it's happy and sunny and you can't help but smile when you see it. And I picked it because it reminds me of her.

When I originally saw this pattern, it reminded me of old ornate hanging birdcages I'd see in the junk shop that no longer exists downtown. She has a love for birds. Bird houses, bird baths, bird feeders. Beautiful little blue birds in her decor.

So I had to do it. I'd never sewn a curved seam before - Lesly's video is amazing. I took months to do this. I had it on my design wall forever. I started to hate it.

Then we almost lost my grandfather. We had one hell of a scare and I won't forget the emotions anytime soon. He's okay, he will bounce back as much as a man of his age can. He has Alzheimer's. I'm supposed to go home for Christmas this year and see him. He's not going to remember me. And I'm not sure I'm strong enough to handle that without bawling, but... I digress.

The scare kicked me into high gear. I'm 1500 miles from "home". I was 1500 miles from being able to hug my grandmother when the doctors told her he was going to die that day, no question about it. I can't do much from down here. So... I sewed. I sat with determination and finished this quilt, my grandmother's quilt.

The bluebirds are for them. He always wears plaid work shirts, so his wing is blue plaid. She's happy and free and colorful, and so are her feathers. They sit contentedly in a cage that can't really contain them. Tattered leaves of a life well-worn and well-lived scatter at their feet.

I didn't quite mean for this post to get so heavy. It's a happy sort of quilt. It just calls me home.

In other news, it is officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I've joined a group of folks who are Streaking for Breast Cancer.

Streaking pink, that is. It's been a lifelong goal of mine to donate my hair, and I finally finally finally grew it long enough to chop off! Two 9-inch ponytails lighter, and one pink streak added, a bit of Ogee in the background and here you have it, folks:

The new and highly office-inappropriate Bree. No worries, I got permission.

I'm linking on up to QuiltStory. You can find their button on the sidebar... it's been too long since I've linked up!

Time for a Winner!!

2011-10-01T14:04:00.003-04:00

Greta, you are in luck! Not only was your #1 header the favorite, but #2 came in second! I guess it was meant to be for you ;)

And Jo, you are also in luck, because Mr. Random.org picked YOU for the drawing prize!!

Now, would you like to see what you've won?

Bree and I both made a prize and decided that Greta, as the winner of the design contest you will get to pick which one you like, and Jo, you will get the other one!

First prize up for grabs is this lovely table topper/wall hanging

And this package of scraps, fabric is From Little Things by Sarah Fielke. There is approximately one yard of scraps here, sizes average 6"x18"

Here they are together!

The other prize up for grabs is a Bow Tucks Tote Bag made with Heirloom by Joel Dewberry. Finished size is approximately 13" wide x 11" tall x 5" deep.

Just pretend like there is a button on there to hold it shut ok? It will be on there before it gets sent to you!

I'm going to shoot the two of you an email, Congrats on winning!!

Would you guys like to know which one Bree and I picked for our new header?

We chose #2!

We both agreed with most of you that we liked that #1 showcased our projects, but we really love the simplicity of this one and it totally jumped out as us and made us smile when we first saw it.

I'm going to re-design the blog around it so look for some changes soon!

Congrats all around Greta!!

A Charming Winner

2011-09-30T21:02:00.001-04:00

Via Random.Org, the winner of the Charm Bracelet from Cherry Creationz is....

Cheree @ The Morning Latte said... 3

Liked them on facebook.

Congratulations, Cheree!!

Email me at DistantPickles@yahoo.com with your address so I can ship you your prize!

Today's the Last Day!

2011-09-30T10:01:00.000-04:00

Hey Cauldron Crafters -

Don't forget! Today's the last day to link up to win the Fat Quarter Bundle from Riley Blake Designs over at Fabric Donkey. Add your link here: http://www.fabricdonkey.com/cauldron-crafts/

It's also the last day to enter for the charm bracelet giveaway: http://distantpickles.blogspot.com/2011/09/charming-giveaway.html

Easy Treat Jars (Tutorial)

2011-09-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome Back Cauldron Crafters!

Today, we're going to create easy treat jars from recycled glass sauce jars.

Supplies Needed:

A glass sauce jar with a lid (or as many as you want!)
A 2" strip of fabric (or ribbon or twine, if you prefer)
Fabric scrap about 7' square
Small scrap of batting
Hot glue gun
A spider ring (I got a whole bunch at the dollar store)

Remove your label from your glass sauce jar and set aside. It's hard to get all the gunk off, but since these will be filled with candy and treats, I just put the gunky side to the wall and never even notice it ;)

Now, take the lid to your jar, and cut a circle out of your batting that is the same size. Don't worry about perfect edges - they just plain ol' don't show! Use a few dots of hot glue to attach it to the lid.

(Like my scratched up table? Yeah, me too!)

Now, lay out your fabric scrap on top of the jar lid and center it. Hold the center down as shown in the photo, and start applying hot glue to the edge of the jar lid a little at a time. I like to do about an inch, and then smooth the fabric down over it, then another inch of glue, and so on...

Once you have your fabric fully applied to the edge of your jar, place the lid back on the jar. It just makes this next step a little easier because you won't be trying to twist fabric and hold a little lid at the same time as applying glue!

Take your 2" strip of fabric, and twist it like so:

Using one small dot of hot glue, apply the twisted fabric to the edge of your jar. This is just your starting point and helps to secure it. Make sure you have a tail of an inch or two before the dot - this won't be glued down.

Now, continue twisting your fabric a bit at a time, and using the same gluing method as you used to put the fabric on the jar, start adding the twisted strip around the outside edge of the lid. The twisted fabric naturally curves a bit, so just add glue as you go, and hold it down for a few seconds until it sets:

Once you've got your twisted fabric applied to the jar lid, and you're back at your starting point, trim any excess so you have an equal tail to the one you left at the beginning - about 1-2".

Now, take that plastic spider ring, and chop off the edges of the ring as shown. You still want a little of the ring part, but not the whole thing:

A quick dot of hot glue right on top of the twisted fabric, in the place where the starting and ending point meet, and press that little spider right into place.

Trim up your excess fabric to a shape that's pleasing, and fill with your favorite treat:

(Mmm, Candy Corn. Or as Kid calls 'em: "Orange Triangles"

Cuz... well, you know, Candy Corn is just too hard to say!)

Easy enough, right? Don't forget to add your photos to the Flickr Group and Link Up to the Fabric Donkey page for a chance to win the Fat Quarter Bundle from Riley Blake Designs!

Creating a Wonky House Quilt Block

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, Cauldron Crafters!

Remember my Haunted House Quilt? I've had a few questions on how to create a wonky house block, so I've taken a few photos of an extra block that was made into a pillow for y'all. Remember, I loosely followed the instructions from UnRuly Quilting, but I've wonked my block a bit more, so I'll show you how to add the little characters and so on.

First, we're going to need scraps. Fussy cut yourself some characters if you'd like them to appear in your door and window - I've used both Riley Blake's Boo to You Scatter print and the purple print below, found at Joann Fabrics:

You'll also need various other cuts of fabric - nothing more than a fat quarter - and a bit of background fabric. For my 12.5" blocks for the quilt, I used about 8-10" WOF of background fabric.

This block creates a TON of waste, so you really have to commit to the look and prepare yourself for exactly how much fabric goes into one little block.

We're going to take our fussy cut little characters and add some frames around them. To do this, I usually use scraps from other projects, but if you're cutting from a fat quarter, cut your strips to be at least 1.5" wide each to start. You'll lose a half inch in each seam allowance.

Add the frames around each side of the character square as shown. If you're choosing to have the open-door look shown, make sure your door piece is to one side, and it is at least as wide as the character cut:

Square up as shown.. you can choose to make this part a little more wonky by cutting at angles. Mine are slightly wonky:

WIP Wednesday-September 28 (How's that for a creative title?)

2011-09-28T01:00:00.044-04:00

It's been pretty hit and miss in the crafting department lately. I have a new found obsession with running, which was taking a lot of my energy, only to end up with a knee injury 2 weeks into my Couch to 5K training. I've been nursing it, willing it to get better, but sadly it's left me in a rather depressed state. I finally got up the motivation to get off of this couch and do something about the state of my health, only to get slapped down. I'm trying to gain a better outlook about it all though and with the help of some super awesome friends I've been getting better day by day.

So here's what I've managed to accomplish in the few weeks since my last post. Not as much as my last post, but still something, so I guess that's good right?

Bee Blocks

Here are my 12 month bee blocks for September, for Alix. She requested a block in block pattern with the inner block offset. She sent some scrumptious Central Park fabrics, which you all know I adore.

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

No progress here.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

No progress on this one either.

For the Love of Solids Swap

All done! And I'm very happy to say that my partner, Leona, loves what I sent her! At least I hope she did, there were a lot of exclamation marks in her thank you note, LOL!

Leona said one of her favorite color combinations was red, white, grey and aqua. She also said she likes rainbows, but I didn't find that out until after I started the big project.

So I made a wall hanging out of her favorite colors combinations...

....which I wish I hadn't washed. I'm just so used to throwing quilts in the washer as soon as they're done! LOL

And since she likes rainbows, I made a rainbow pouch

I tried out handquilting for the first time!

and a rainbow mug rug

Why didn't I hand stitch it closed? Don't you hate when you wish you had done something different AFTER you've sent it off?

Color Wheel Charm Swap

Because I love rainbows too, I signed up for the color wheel charm swap. My colors were violet and violet purple. I had to buy one yard of each and cut them each into 56 charms and then send them to Kati. She then separated them all and mailed them back out to all of the 56 participants. I got my charms last week and am IN LOVE.

How's this for a stack of rainbow goodness?

I've been dying to make a paintbox quilt, I think I'll put them towards that.

Bree's Donation Quilt

Here's the one I forgot to get pictures of last time. Bree sent me a kit, everything included to make an entire tumbler quilt, for her Quilts for the Kids donation drive. It took me awhile but I finally got it done. Her delivery deadline is in December so I knew I could take my time. It was a quick and easy project once I got to it though, it's nice having everything pre-cut and ready to go!

I echo quilted the seams on this one, it was fast and easy and fun!

Sorry about that stray thread in that picture there, oops!

Lollipop Bento Box

It's done, finally! I first blogged about this one back in December! Man, I can't believe how long it sat in my WIP pile.

I quilted a spiral into each of the blocks, echoing the seam lines again. There was a whole lot of twisting and turning involved, and some mighty sore shoulders, but I do like the look it gives to the finished design.

Now I can't decide what to do with it. I could hold onto it for a baby gift (It's only 48" square) or I could list it in my etsy shop. I'm leaning towards listing it and seeing if I can make a little extra cash. I like the idea of having a ready made baby quilt on hand, but at the same time I prefer to make a quilt with a baby specifically in mind.

I've also managed to make some serious progress on some pay it forwards gifts. I've been working hard on those so I can cross them off my list. The end of the year is inching closer and closer every day, I'm running out of time!

Items on Hold

I'm doing good keeping my vow to finish these WIPs before starting anything new, so look for a couple of these to move up the list soon.

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Little Faces quilt from 12 Month Christmas bee

Strawberry Lemonade snowball quilt

Strawberry Lemonade Ritzy Cracker quilt

Dill Blossoms hexagon quilt

Denim winter quilt

Don't forget we have two giveaways going on right now, both end on Friday.

One is for this super adorable Halloween charm bracelet, courtesy of Cherry Creationz

Follow the link below to enter:

Charm bracelet giveaway

The other is a giveaway to help pick a winner of our header contest and in honor of our 100th Post. Bree and I have been hard at work cooking up some goodies for the prizes. Here are a couple of sneak peeks

Follow this link for information on how you can enter to win!

100th Post Celebration

As always, I'm linking up with Lee

Happy Wednesday!

Awesomely Fun Popcorn Balls

2011-09-27T01:00:00.004-04:00

Hey guys, Julie here! I actually have a contribution to Cauldron Crafts! I know, I know, only one? It's a good one though!

I'm just not a huge Halloween fanatic. We go trick or treating and have a lot of fun with that every year, but I don't decorate or go all out making costumes or anything. So in my goal to find something to contribute, I remembered this popcorn ball recipe that I had. I made this for a Halloween party for one of my sons at school and they were a huge hit!

Make them for your party, or to give out to trick or treaters!

I don't know about you, but I'm a total visual learner. So I'm going to show you how to make these all P-Dub style.

You will need:

For Part One:

Cereal, Skittles, Twizzlers and popcorn

A note about these ingredients....You can use whatever cereal and candy you'd like. The original recipe calls for Corn Flakes, but I had Crispix on hand. If you use Twizzlers, try to find the ones that are already cut into small pieces (I think they're called nubs or something). That way you won't have to cut your own. My store didn't have them. For the popcorn, you can use butter, but I use the plain kind for reasons which I will reveal later. Anyway, feel free to mix this up and try different combinations!

For Part 2 you will need:

Butter (or margarine), corn syrup and marshmallows (10.5 oz bag)

Grab a large bowl and throw in 1 cup of each of the cereal, cut up Twizzlers and Skittles.

Pop one bag of popcorn (and then pop another because you accidentally cooked the first one too long and burnt it) and pour it into a separate bowl. Now, transfer the popcorn into the bowl with the candy and cereal by hand, just grabbing handfuls at a time until it's done. By doing it this way (instead of just pouring it into the bowl straight from the bag) you will keep all of this from getting mixed into the good stuff:

At this point you can mix all of the popcorn and candies together, or just leave it alone. My biggest bowl was barely big enough to hold it all and I would have had popcorn flying if I tried to mix it. Plus, it's just going to get mixed again later, so I left it.

Ok, set that aside for now, on to part 2.

I forgot to take a picture of this part, but you will need 1/4 cup of butter and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup. Melt them together in a large saucepan.

Once they are melted, add the entire bag of marshmallows and stir until melted. You'll have a nice bubbly mixture.

Remove the pan from the stove and pour the contents over the bowl of popcorn mix

The next few pictures were taken by my 11 year old because this is where I became a sticky mess. Before becoming a sticky mess yourself, grab a muffin pan and spray it with cooking spray.

Grab a rubber spatula or wooden spoon (something flat works best) and start mixing it all up

Now comes the fun part!

Ok, here's where I get philosophical on you. In order to not get messy, you have to get messy. Huh? I don't know how much of a secret this little step is, but it's something I figured out while making Rice Krispies Treats one day and couldn't get the treats in the pan without them sticking to everything.

Grab a small amount of butter and spread it over the palms of your hands. You don't need a lot, there's actually too much on my hands here. You just need enough to get them a bit slippery.

Then reach into the bowl and grab a handful of your popcorn mix, and roll it into a ball.

Do you see how sticky this stuff starts out?

By putting the butter on your hands, it will keep it from sticking to you. This is also the reason why I use plain popcorn instead of buttered. You may need to add a little bit of butter back to your hands in between rolling the balls.

After you have them rolled, place them into the muffin tin to set.

This recipe should yield 12 good sized popcorn balls.

And please don't laugh at my poor muffin pan. I bought it eleventy billion years ago when my husband and I got married. Ok, this coming Friday will actually make it 11 years ago, but it's gotten a ton of use and abuse, don't hurt it's feelings.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! It's a big hit with the kids, just ask Bug. I walked away from them for 5 minutes and found her with a bowl with three of them in it, just munching away!

A Charming Giveaway

2011-09-26T19:21:00.002-04:00

Hey Cauldron Crafters!

We've got a sweet little giveaway for you today...

A Halloween Charm bracelet, courtesy of Cherry Creationz!

is a polymer clay shop run by artist Franky. She's got some really cool stuff and does a lot of custom work. Seriously - you can send her a picture of anything and she can probably make it! I asked her to make me a custom charm bracelet a while ago and she came through swimmingly! For instance...
I asked her to make me a goose like this cookie jar:

Can you see it? Dead center!

That's pretty flippin' good. I absolutely love my bracelet and get asked where I get it all the time. You can order a custom bracelet through Franky's Etsy store, found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChErRyCrEaTiOnz?ref=pr_shop_more

So, naturally, after owning my personal Cherry Creationz, I had to beg beg beg Franky to make the awesome Distant Pickles readers a charm bracelet!
Check out some of these charms!
A cute pumpkin and spider:

Candy Corn, a Witch's hat, and a ghost:

C'mon, right?! Too cute!

So how do you win this sweet little Halloween charm bracelet for yourself? Simple...

Leave us a comment. That's it!

For a second entry, Like Fabric Donkey on Facebook.

A third, Follow Fabric Donkey via google connect.

And a fourth, follow Distant Pickles.

Leave a separate comment for each thing you've done or they won't be counted as separate entries!

Giveaway closes Friday, September 30th at 9pm EST. Winner will be drawn then!

Spooky Haunted House Village (Tutorial)

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, Cauldron Crafters!

Have you guys ever seen those Department 56 Villages? They're REALLY cool. There is a Christmas store local to me that has a ton of the Christmas ones, and a whole section of Halloween ones. I remember having them around the house - both my mom's and my grandmother's - when I was a kid, and playing with the figurines. One of my favorite parts of the holidays is those little villages!

But.. uh.. they're freakin' expensive.

And I'm freakin' cheap.

And I have a 3 year old. And I'm positive I would cry if he broke something on a little teensy $40 house, let alone a $125 one. But I want him to be able to play with them.. that's what I did!

So what's a crafty girl to do?

Make her own!!

Supplies:
Bird Houses. Find 'em at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or if you're lucky, the dollar store.
Black Acrylic paint or Spray Paint.
Craft Paint brushes. Nothing too big.
Black Glitter. I used Martha Stewart's Onyx.

I started with two birdhouses. I bought mine at Michael's - they range in price from about $2.99 - $9.99, and you can use coupons. (Hint.. they take Joann's coupons.). I chose two that were a little more ornate, two stories, and had some gothic-esque features to them. They were $4.99 each. I paid just over $8 after the 40% off one item coupon.
They had an outhouse shaped birdhouse. My husband wanted me to get it, but the idea of a haunted toilet scared the heck out of me, haha!

Okay, are you ready for the most simple tutorial ever written?
Step one:
Paint the birdhouses black. I used acrylic craft paint. Spraying would probably be less time consuming. Do however many coats you want until you are satisfied with the coverage. I only did one coat.

Some wood still peeks through. That's okay.

Step two:

Paint one more coat. As you paint this coat on, shake glitter over the wet paint. If you get the brilliant idea to mix the glitter into the paint to save time... well, it just gets clumpy and gross and not glittery, so don't bother. :)

Step Three:

There is no step three. You're done. See, told you it was the most simple tutorial ever written!

I plan to add more houses to the collection each year, so I eventually have a whole village. I also plan to make peg dolls like this set on Etsy so that my village has little people. Perfect play set that can withstand a 3 year old and still look quirky and cute as decor!

And you know I'm totally doing a Christmas village later on!

Time to Vote!

2011-09-25T15:27:00.002-04:00

Ready to get this party started?

Ok, here we go! Time to vote for the winner of the header contest!

We had quite a few entries and they're all looking good, this will be hard to choose!

So, here are the rules:

1. Pick the header you like the most and leave a comment telling us which one. They will be numbered, make sure you leave the number of the one you like. Only one comment/vote per person please.

2. The winner by popular vote will win a prize. Bree and I are both cooking something up (we're almost there!). We'll let the winner choose which prize they prefer.

3. Random.org will pick a winner of the other prize from the comments, so be sure to place your vote!

4. Ultimately Bree and I will decide which header will become the new header for Distant Pickles. The winner by vote will still win the prize, even if we don't choose that one as the new header.

Here are the entries!

#1-Designed by Greta

#2-Also designed by Greta

#3-Designed by Elizabeth

#4-Also designed by Elizabeth

#5-Designed by Emily

So what are you waiting for? Go vote!

Versatile Chalkboard Sign

2011-09-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

Hey hey, Cauldron Crafters!

Last year, while I was gathering Halloween crafting ideas, I scoured the Martha Stewart site. Love her or hate her, the woman's got some good stuff. (Even if her site does take eleventy billion hours to load.)

So I ran across this: http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/outdoor-decorations-for-halloween#slide_27 . Simple and cute enough... just use a dollar store chalkboard, hang with a length of chain.

But I can't just leave ideas alone. Nope.

Last year, my dad cut me some arrow shaped pieces of scrap wood. What for?

(Image found at http://fuisti.blogspot.com/)

A directional sign, pointing to all the different elf workshops and whathaveyou, of course.

Except I never got around to painting it. So I have some arrow shaped pieces of wood that were just begging for attention.

I started with some acrylic paint in a spooky green, and painted up the edges of my sign, then added 3 coats of chalkboard paint to the front face of the sign. Add a bit of hot glue, with some orange buttons shaped conspicuously like a pumpkin... a length of ribbon stapled to the back...

and you have a directional Trick or Treat sign!

Since the sign itself is not specifically Halloween oriented, the words can be erased and re-written to direct your Thanksgiving guests to, say, the dessert table!

Mine will be hanging in my front window, facing the trick or treaters... as soon as it's socially acceptable to have the exterior of my house decorated for Halloween ;)

Don't forget to add your images to the Flickr Group, and link up to the Fabric Donkey for a chance to win the Riley Blake fat quarter bundle of Trick or Treat!